June 6, 2019
Mumbai
At the prestigious
WAN-IFRA World Digital Media Awards announced at Glasgow, Arré struck Gold in
the Best in Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment Website or Mobile Services
category. Praise came in from the judges who noted, “This entry stands out for its distinctive commitment to video
entertainment. The clean, impactful design is the icing on the cake. Beautiful
product.”
The Arré website
and app is now in the august company of established international heavyweights
like the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Washington Post. In fact, the
other finalists that Arré bested in the same category included The Lily, a
website by the Washington Post, USA; Do Outro Lado, UOL from Brazil; and Hia
Magazine from the UAE. Arré is also the only Indian website out of eight
winners honoured at the 2019 edition of the awards.
Magdoom Mohamed,
Managing Director-South Asia-WAN IFRA said “This is the third time Arré has won a WAN-IFRA
award – the first time at a global level (and only the second time for an
Indian brand). It’s truly promising to see such a young brand doing well, and
we wish them more success.”
B. Saikumar, Founder, Arré, “We
are honoured and humbled to receive such a reputed international award. When we
started in April 2016, we had no idea that we’d find ourselves in the company
of publishing giants like the Guardian, New York Times, and Washington Post, so
soon after. No matter which medium we choose to tell stories in – long-form web
shows, fiction or non-fiction video, audio, or text – it has been our constant
endeavour to distinguish ourselves, and yet remain faithful to the voice we
have so diligently carved in a crowded media landscape. We’re particularly
thankful to our collaborators, contributors, partners, and advertisers. May
great storytelling continue!”
WAN-IFRA is a
distinguished global association of newspapers and news publishers, working
with a network of 3,000 news publishing companies and technology entrepreneurs,
as well as 80 member publisher associations representing 18,000 publications
across 120 countries. The awards were presented during a ceremony held at the
conclusion of the World News Media Congress at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and
Museum in Glasgow, UK. In 2017 and 2018, Arré had won the South Asian Digital
Media Award in the same category, also organised by WAN-IFRA.
This is Arré’s 11th
international win. In 2016, the web show A.I.SHA My Virtual Girlfriend raked up
a number of wins at the LA Web Festival, including Best Series – Drama, as well
as editing, direction, and acting credits. That same year, the show gathered
Best Overall Series and Best Suspense Thriller wins at the South Florida Web
Festival, followed by the CMO Asia Branding Excellence Award, and an Asia Web
Award in 2017. At the 21st Annual Webby Awards in 2016, Arré’s web show
Official Chukyagiri bagged an Official Honoree credit in the Film Series
Category and Video Long Form or Series Category. In 2018, WRPN.TV’s Tight and
Loose Global Film Festival Competition awarded the Arré-Teeli short film,
Matched!, an Indo-Pakistan collaboration, with a Special Outstanding Excellence
credit.
The other winners
at the WAN-IFRA awards include the Guardian, that won the Best News Website and
Best Data Visualisation; The New York Times, that won for Best Use for Online Video;
and Jota, Brazil, that won Best Digital News Start-up, among others. Other
awardees included the LA Times podcast, Dirty John, and AJ+ Español.
About Arré:
Arré is India’s first multi-format, multi-genre digital media brand.
It brings to India’s new-gen digital audiences, a range of contextual
storytelling and entertainment using video, audio, graphic-art and text.
Founded by B. Saikumar, Ajay Chacko, and Sanjay Ray Chaudhuri, Arré launched
its website and social media offerings in April 2016 with original content
ranging from articles that explore sub-culture and popular culture,to doodles
and illustrations that take a satirical look at the world, and the
socio-political environment. Arré’s repertoire also includes fiction franchises
like A.I.SHA, that explores the
dynamics of interplay between technology and relationships; Official Chukyagiri and Official CEOgiri, a slice-of-life
dramedy about the corporate world viewed through a motley crew of characters
seen in office spaces; and I Don’t Watch
TV, which is a satirical sitcom series that explores the many hidden
dimensions of India’s over-the-top entertainment television industry. Arré has
also launched the country’s first digital reality show based on a social
experiment, Arré Ho-Ja-Re-gender (an
Israeli format), which explores what it takes for the sexes to literally be the
other gender; Tathaastu an office
sitcom that fulfils its customers’ craziest wishes, the comedy The Adventures of Abbaas Mastaan, which
is a “fully-filmi” series about two film students who set out to create a viral
digital video; audio-dramas in partnership with Saavn, the first of which is Trial By Error | The Aarushi Files, based
on one of India’s most intriguing murder cases. Arré also launched its first
vertical dedicated to food – Arré Grub,
the most recent property of which is a food and travel show called The Farm Life, followed by a travel and
adventure reality vertical Arré Outdoors,
the first property of which was an adventure reality show The Real High. The music vertical, Arré Earworm, launched Arré’s first on-ground property Arré Siren, a music and comedy festival
headlined only by female artists. Arré has also collaborated with the Indian
Express Group to launch a series of documentaries, including one on pollution,
titled Death by Breath, and Kashmir’s Lost Children. Arré also
creates contextual short-form content ranging from movie reviews and commentary
– Fitoor Mishra Ki CommentArré – to a
unique mobile intuitive format called Inside
the PhoneOf… that plays out imagined conversations on the phones of
celebrities, sketches, music documentaries, and much more. Arré has also
recently forayed into the Marathi market with a popular fiction franchise, Moving Out.
Arré has been working with a range of advertisers to integrate their
brands seamlessly into contextual storytelling and entertainment as well as
with a range of video platforms such as Jio Cinema, Jio TV, Dainik Bhaskar,
Sony Liv, TF1 Xtra (a French based television and digital network), Vodafone Play, Ola Play, leading airlines such as Jet Airways,
Qatar Airways, Emirates etc. to market and distribute its content.
Arré also creates large format original shows across languages and
genres, in collaboration with international and domestic OTT platforms,
broadcast television and movie screens, through its studio business - Arré
Studio.
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ArreIndia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArreIndia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arreindia/
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